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we may say brittle and unless the hook 

 eatch through the lip, it is more than an equal 

 chance that he will escape you. 



The habits of the grayling, like those of 

 most other fish, are very simple. He is, to a 

 certain extent, gregarious; more so than the 

 trout, and less so than the perch. He is in the 

 highest or most perfect season, at the end of 

 November or beginning of December, when 

 his back is very dark, almost black, and his 

 belly and lower fins almost gold-coloured ; but 

 his brightness, like that of most other fishes, 

 depends a good deal upon the nature of the 

 water. In many rivers of the continent, the 

 grayling is far more brilliantly coloured than 

 in England; the lower part almost a bright 

 orange, and the back fin approaching the colour 

 of the damask rose, or rather of an anemone. 

 The grayling spawns in April, and sometimes 

 as late as the beginning of May ; the female is 

 generally then followed by two or three males. 

 She deposits her ova in the tails of sharp streams, 

 and the males, rubbing against her, shed upon 

 the ova the milt or seminal fluid. It has. not 

 been ascertained with certainty how long a 

 time is required for the exclusion of the young 

 ones ; but in the end of July, or beginning of 

 August, they are of the size of sprats, four or 

 five inches long, and already sport merrily at a 



